The document discusses control as inference in Markov decision processes (MDPs) and partially observable MDPs (POMDPs). It introduces optimality variables that represent whether a state-action pair is optimal or not. It formulates the optimal action-value function Q* and optimal value function V* in terms of these optimality variables and the reward and transition distributions. Q* is defined as the log probability of a state-action pair being optimal, and V* is defined as the log probability of a state being optimal. Bellman equations are derived relating Q* and V* to the reward and next state value.